Fill in the Blank Friday

Well, I haven't blogged in awhile... my apologies.  I haven't had a ton to say, and I've been super anxious about school, and therefore, have left you all hanging in suspense of what is going on in my life!!  I know- it was a terrible thing to do, and I'm so sorry.

So, today, I'm going to do Fill in the blank Friday!

Linking up with Tara!

1. My idea of pure perfection is Sugarbrown's chai tea latte and a good book.

2. Communication/Organization makes the world go 'round.

3. If it weren't for lack of space and money I'd probably have over 1,000 purses.

4.  Bloggers are so fun!  I need more blogs to follow.

5. If I had $9 I'd buy you Essie mochacino nail polish.

6. I'm glad it's Friday because I love lazy weekends!

7. Something I'm excited about is going to IU!

What are some of your blanks?

What are you doing this weekend?

What are your favorite blogs?

Vacation Part Two

So after being in Red River, NM for a week Justin, his family, and I all drove back to Lubbock.  We were only in Lubbock for a night, but we definitely made sure to get some Rosa's!  Oh it was delicious and so worth it.

The next morning Justin had to fly back to Indiana for work, so I was on my own.  I drove to Dallas to spend some time with my family.  It was great- I absolutely love my family so it was really nice to spend some time with them.

After a few days I drove to Midland for Stephanie Munsell's wedding!  It was so fun.  Everything went so smoothly, and she looked stunning.

I got there on Thursday, and we had Stephanie's lingerie shower and bachelorette party.  It was a blast!  I am good friends with most of the other bridesmaids, so it was super fun to see all of them and catch up.

Friday we got our nails done, hung out, and then had the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner.  It was a very fun, relaxing day.

Saturday was THE DAY.  The wedding day!  We got our hair done, hung out at the church, ate some lunch, did our make-up, and then walked down the aisle.  The ceremony was absolutely beautiful and so God honoring.  Stephanie and Ryan have such a love and passion for the Lord, and it was great to see that reflected in the ceremony.  I could see Ryan throughout the ceremony, and he was just so focused and serious, yet so incredibly happy.  It was lovely.

The reception was really fun.  The food was so good, and it was fun to just hang out!

All in all, it was a fabulous wedding weekend!

Sunday morning I headed back to Dallas.  I got to see my best friend Carrie and her two sweet kiddos, which was really awesome.  I loved getting to spend just a little more time in Dallas.

Overall, it was such an awesome vacation.  I was glad to get home though, and sleep in my own bed.

Vacation Part One

Since I was on vacation for nearly a month, I'm breaking it up into a few parts for you so you don't get too overwhelmed.  You're welcome.

Every year my husband's family travels to Red River, NM for a week of fishing, hiking, and resting.  I must admit, I was very skeptical of this vacation plan when we first got married because it is totally opposite of how my family vacations, but I have loved these past few years in New Mexico.  It really is nice to get away with the goal of simply relaxing.

Red River, NM is at the very base of the Rocky Mountains in northern New Mexico.  We're not too far from Colorado when we're there.  It is really beautiful.  But New Mexico is in a severe drought.  So much so that the forest was closed.  We were still able to go and fish because we stay on private property that has its own lake and river.  It was really sad though to see the land so incredibly dry.

However, the fishing was great!!  This is what I caught on the very first day along with Heath, my brother-in-law, and his catch:

Pretty nice fish!  I use a spinning rod, and Heath, Justin, and Tommy (father-in-law) use fly rods.  Sometimes Tommy goes back to a spinning rod, but he is fly fishing more and more.

Then, on Monday, they stocked the lake.  Justin and I went down at around noon to fish, and by 3 pm I had caught about 25 fish, along with these bad boys that I kept:

Since we (well mainly I) were doing so well we continued to fish until the lake closed at 7 pm.  I ended up catching over 40 fish plus all of these:

Oh yeah, and Justin caught this:

But I caught all of these:

Basically it was the best day of fishing that any one in the family has ever had!  And my in-laws have been going for about 30 years.  I outfished them all.

I might be a little bit proud of myself.

Just a little bit.

The rest of the week was super fun.  We went to see Harry Potter 7 pt. 2 which I LOVED.  We also rode the chair lift, which was really pretty.

All in all, it was a great week.

Now it's your turn!


Do you prefer to be super busy on vacation or just relax?
- I really like both, but I guess if I had to choose one I like going new places and doing a lot.

Would you rather go to the mountains or the beach?
- Another tricky one, but I have to go with the mountains.  So beautiful.

It's Been Too Long!

Vacation is finally over, and I am back home in Indiana.  I'm sorry I didn't post much at all on vacation, but I just didn't really think about it.  I had a fabulous time, and I'll post more about it these next few days or so.  I have pictures that I need to load on to my computer and all of that, and I'll include some of them on the blog.

The good news is that I only gained about 2 pounds during this, basically month long trip.  I was pleased because I definitely wasn't as able to eat as well as I have been lately.  It was a great trip, but I am starting to get ready to get in to my master's program!

Anyway, I will post again soon about part 1 of my trip.  Hopefully you haven't all disappeared!

Quick Update

I am writing this from my iPhone because there is no Internet where we stay in Red River, so please excuse any spelling or grammar mistakes!

Red River is beautiful right now. It just rained, so it's nice and cool. I ran this morning and felt great. I could definitely tell that I was at a higher altitude because it was harder to recover when I walked. But it wasn't impossible! I decided to go back to week one of the C25K plan, and that worked out wonderfully!

I probably won't post again until Sunday or so when I'm back in civilazation. :)

Getting Closer

I weighed myself today, and I have lost... drum roll please... 15 pounds in the past two months!!  15 pounds!  I am so excited I could eat a cake.  Just kidding... kind of. :)

Exercising has definitely helped and made a huge difference, but I also think that writing down everything I eat and how many calories it has in it has made the biggest difference!  Justin and I have been cooking a lot from the New and Complete Weight Watcher's Cookbook.  So far they've been really good and easy to make.  I think they're pretty filling too, but Justin doesn't.  He eats multiple servings.

15 pounds down, 55 to go.

Altitude Changes and Vacation

First of all, a big THANKS to Tara for featuring me on her blog, Dashing in Pearls!  Go check her out!!

Next week we leave for Red River, NM, and I couldn't be more excited!  This is an annual trip that we take with Justin's family every year.  This is our last year to go in July; next year we are going in August.  It's a really relaxing trip.  We fish and hike, and basically do whatever we want!  The best part is that there's no television.  I happen to be rather addicted to TV, and I actually find it super nice to not have that option.  I'm super pumped to read some of my new running books and finish re-reading the seventh Harry Potter book!  I cannot WAIT until July 15.

So here's the deal though: Red River is at about 9,000 feet.  Bloomington is at about 800.  I don't want to lose any momentum with running, but I also don't want to have a heart attack.  I'm thinking that I'll be there for a few days and then go back to week one of C25k and just do three days of that.  Week One is run 60 seconds, walk 90 seconds, for 20 minutes.  I also plan on doing a lot of hiking, so I'll get in some good fitness there.

After New Mexico I am heading to Dallas and Midland for Stephanie's (red sunglasses in above picture) wedding.  I'm so very happy for her and really excited about her wedding because if it is anything like Stephanie it's going to be amazing!  But I am concerned about food- I know that we'll probably be eating out a fair amount, and I really want to stay on track with eating healthily.

So what are some tips you have for running at a different altitude and for making healthy choices about food when at a big celebration?